Cease Fire

Many a weary heart and an anxious mindThrilled through and through,Stirred by the news that sped on the wings of the wind; Have you heard? Is it true?Surely at last it is over, the frenzy of strife,Welter and nauseous garbage of human life;Hideous carnage, pitiless torture and pain,Desperate courage, spent as it seemed, in vain? Then we knew it was true.

Sweet was that voice as the breath of the gracious dawn, Life after death:Dear as the welcome rain to the earth forlorn, Panting for breath,Parched by the naked sun from a sky of brass,Choked with the stifling dust where the footsteps pass.But at the last there is heard from afar off the moan,Rising in volume until with a shriek and a groan, The wide heavens are wrung With the lightening that’s flung In a flash through the wrack Of the clouds beaten back,

And the fury of tempest’s awhirl with confusion and strife.Then swift as it came has the storm spent its might,And the sun shines out clear with a new-chastened light,All the earth is unlocked by the kiss of the rain,And a fragrance is spread over all the wide plain,And the flowers lift again dainty heads, fresh and fair,And the song of the lark echoes far, echoes clear, And joy fills the heart of all Life.

So, to the hearts that had watched and waited so long,Came as a balm, as a spurt to the heart, as a song, Tidings of gladness and peace, Victory, happy release, From the bondage of care, And the fetters of fear,Came joy that men scarce dared to hope they would welcome again.